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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSpa shooting suspect's parents helped authorities catch him
By Christian Boone, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Once Cherokee County deputies received a surveillance capture of Robert Aaron Long leaving Youngs Asian Massage near Acworth Tuesday afternoon, the trail of the suspected killer grew red hot.
Longs parents contacted the Cherokee sheriffs office to identify their son. They also informed deputies that a tracking device could lead authorities to his vehicle, a Hyundai Tucson. Cherokee sheriffs spokesman Jay Baker said he didnt know why Long was being tracked, or if he was aware of it.
They do know that, without the GPS tracker, and his parents cooperation, Long, accused of fatally shooting eight people Tuesday at three metro Atlanta massage parlors, would not have been apprehended so quickly, Baker said. Long was captured in Crisp County, about 150 miles south of Atlanta, en route to Florida, perhaps to carry out additional shootings, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said at a press conference Wednesday.
This couldve been significantly worse, Bottoms said. Its very likely there wouldve been more victims.
snip
https://www.ajc.com/news/crime/alleged-killer-of-spa-workers-tracked-by-gps/F4BPGOOGSFDFRA7GLPEE4AS4BE/
tanyev
(42,564 posts)malaise
(269,045 posts)The parents are part of the problem here.
Warpy
(111,270 posts)His dad might be one of the decent youth ministers. I'm not even blaming his religion, although it seems like he was carrying a lot of guilt and shame and fear.
No, this is just another screwball who despised women and blamed them for his inability to get laid, like despising us is some sort of positive attribute we all look for in men. They create their own hell and then blame us because they're living in it.
Easy access to hand held semi auto killing machines didn't help.
wnylib
(21,484 posts)There might have been a number of influences in his life that created his attitudes and sexual problems. But social attitudes in general about women help give a twisted mind a target to blame for their problems.
iluvtennis
(19,862 posts)Corgigal
(9,291 posts)and then blame us because theyre living in it.
Needed to be printed twice.
Treefrog
(4,170 posts)guilty for what their children do? Think about that, ok?
we can do it
(12,189 posts)NH Ethylene
(30,813 posts)Or troubled in other, various ways.
Another way to look at it is, lots of kids are raised in religious (sexually repressed) families. In fact, basically ALL kids were raised like that decades ago, religious or not, since it was a societal norm. Certain outcomes can be predicted: acting out once there is a whiff of freedom, becoming repressed and uncomfortable about sex as an adult, and reaching normalcy in spite of it all.
Unless the parents were abusive in some extreme way, becoming a killer is not a normal or expected outcome and really can't be blamed on them.
Response to catbyte (Original post)
The Magistrate This message was self-deleted by its author.
xmas74
(29,674 posts)There was an article a few years ago about some of them not only using various locking devices for late payments but also using trackers on vehicles l.
Mr.Bill
(24,300 posts)where half the cars that left there had one of those devices. Pinpoints car's location for repo purposes.
ProfessorGAC
(65,061 posts)Cars have had products like "OnStar" on them for 20 years.
Chrysler offers one too, but I never got it.
My wife's Buick had it, but it was 3 years free. After that, we canceled.
But, those things transmitted location, so in a wreck the dispatcher knew where to send help.
The tracker on his car might not have been after market.
TexasLefty29
(190 posts)I mean, the guy is a preachers son.
And a sexual predator.
And that coarse, fully grown religious conversion beard is a clear red flag.
Criminal minds may already have done an episode about this. Joking aside, the guys an unsub.
AZSkiffyGeek
(11,028 posts)TexasLefty29
(190 posts)with another side conversation. Not to mention, they were two separate statements.
But a genuine apology is owed to you for feeling that you need to ask why.
Need I point you in the direction of the Catholic Church, or perhaps some scholarly articles that pertain to the sick perversions that stem from repressed religions and cultures?
malaise
(269,045 posts)but many religious groups brainwash youngsters into feeling guilty about basic natural instincts.
I'd love to see the data on serial killers by specific religions or no religion - I'm betting the group with the least number of mass murderers are atheists.
marble falls
(57,102 posts)... about atheists. I bet they're within proportion. Not all damaged kids go out and shoot up the town.
Can one not believe in "god" and not be an atheist?
malaise
(269,045 posts)Not by definition.
It' is true that the vast majority of damaged kids don't shoot up the town but many mass murderers had both mommy issues and religious baggage
marble falls
(57,102 posts)OriginalGeek
(12,132 posts)before I figured out that the Cowboys losing games wasn't god punishing me for masturbating.
But that notion sure did fuck with me before I left home and the church.
And if there are any former Dallas Cowboys reading this, I am REALLY sorry for the 1980 season conference championship game. I thought I could get away with one. High school was not an easy time in that regard.
malaise
(269,045 posts)That's some serious propaganda there. Adults spread way too much misinformation for all the wrong reasons
phylny
(8,380 posts)"After the attack at the Santa Fe High School, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick denounced a loss of faith and religion in society. While the news media puts the lives of these mass public killers under a microscope, collecting any information that can be gleaned about their childhoods from their family and friends and social media history, researchers have ignored the religious views of these killers.
"What is most shocking is how few of these killers appear to be religious, let alone Christian. Just 16 percent have any type of religious affiliation at the time of their attacks, with a slight majority of those being Muslims.
"Over just over 20 years from the beginning of January 1998 through today, there have been 69 killers committing 66 mass public shootings in the United States where at least four people have been killed. Of those attacks, just four have been identified as Christians, with just three clearly regular churchgoers. With 70 percent of Americans identifying themselves as Christians and over 33 percent going to church at least once a week, those numbers are a long way away from the 48 or 23 we would respectively expect."
https://crimeresearch.org/2018/05/what-are-the-religious-views-of-mass-public-shooters/
and this:
"From January 1998 to the present, 69 killers have committed 66 mass public shootings in the US. Each of these attacks claimed four or more lives. Of the attackers, four have been identified as Christians, with just three clearly being regular churchgoers. With 70% of Americans identifying themselves as Christians and over 33% going to church at least once a week, those numbers fall far short of what one might expect.
"Five other killers were raised as Christians, but apparently moved away from the faith as they got older. The media goes into great depth about all sorts of aspects of these killers lives and religious views if they can find any information on them. If interviews with the killers family and friends dont reveal anything about their religious views and the press cant find the killers being affiliated with any religion, at the very least they dont have significant religious views."
https://crimeresearch.org/2018/05/what-are-the-religious-views-of-mass-public-shooters/
unweird
(2,539 posts)Does not equate to being unreligious. Im not too sure that the study cited is a good source or citation to the question of mass murderers religious indoctrination or affiliation.
phylny
(8,380 posts)The articles did seem to mention religion:
What is most shocking is how few of these killers appear to be religious, let alone Christian.
unweird
(2,539 posts)Crimeresearch.org founder John Lott does not look like an impartial source for gun stuff info. I dont trust him, his organization or any of his research.
But hey, thanks for sharing. I wish we had a more unbiased source.
phylny
(8,380 posts)I do appreciate it.
malaise
(269,045 posts)Thanks
RandySF
(58,898 posts)Before the media erase the victims because they were sex workers?
TexasLefty29
(190 posts)Obviously they did happy endings there.
Except. Not such a happy ending now.
marble falls
(57,102 posts)Treefrog
(4,170 posts)Be ashamed.
marble falls
(57,102 posts)... will be notifying family for these women especially if they were trafficked or if they are correctly ID'd.
Arkansas Granny
(31,518 posts)NH Ethylene
(30,813 posts)Painful though it would be, I would never allow my son or daughter to be free to continue killing people.
marble falls
(57,102 posts)Sancho
(9,070 posts)This is my generic response to gun threads where people are shot and killed by the dumb or criminal possession of guns. For the record, I grew up in the South and on military bases. I was taught about firearms as a child, and I grew up hunting, was a member of the NRA, and I still own guns. In the 70s, I dropped out of the NRA because they become more radical and less interested in safety and training. Some personal experiences where people I know were involved in shootings caused me to realize that anyone could obtain and posses a gun no matter how illogical it was for them to have a gun. Also, easy access to more powerful guns, guns in the hands of children, and guns that werent secured are out of control in our society. As such, heres what I now think ought to be the requirements to possess a gun. Im not debating the legal language, I just think its the reasonable way to stop the shootings. Notice, none of this restricts the type of guns sold. This is aimed at the people who shoot others, because its clear that they should never have had a gun.
1.) Anyone in possession of a gun (whether they own it or not) should have a regularly renewed license. If you want to call it a permit, certificate, or something else that's fine.
2.) To get a license, you should have a background check, and be examined by a professional for emotional and mental stability appropriate for gun possession. It might be appropriate to require that examination to be accompanied by references from family, friends, employers, etc. This check is not to subject you to a mental health diagnosis, just check on your superficial and apparent gun-worthyness.
3.) To get the license, you should be required to take a safety course and pass a test appropriate to the type of gun you want to use.
4.) To get a license, you should be over 21. Under 21, you could only use a gun under direct supervision of a licensed person and after obtaining a learners license. Your license might be restricted if you have children or criminals or other unsafe people living in your home. (If you want to argue 18 or 25 or some other age, fine. 21 makes sense to me.)
5.) If you possess a gun, you would have to carry a liability insurance policy specifically for gun ownership - and likely you would have to provide proof of appropriate storage, security, and whatever statistical reasons that emerge that would drive the costs and ability to get insurance.
6.) You could not purchase a gun or ammunition without a license, and purchases would have a waiting period.
7.) If you possess a gun without a license, you go to jail, the gun is impounded, and a judge will have to let you go (just like a DUI).
8.) No one should carry an unsecured gun (except in a locked case, unloaded) when outside of home. Guns should be secure when transporting to a shooting event without demonstrating a special need. Their license should indicate training and special carry circumstances beyond recreational shooting (security guard, etc.). If you are carrying your gun while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, you lose your gun and license.
9.) If you buy, sell, give away, or inherit a gun, your license information should be recorded.
10.) If you accidentally discharge your gun, commit a crime, get referred by a mental health professional, are served a restraining order, etc., you should lose your license and guns until reinstated by a serious relicensing process.
Most of you know that a license is no big deal. Besides a drivers license you need a license to fish, operate a boat, or many other activities. I realize these differ by state, but that is not a reason to let anyone without a bit of sense pack a semiautomatic weapon in public, on the roads, and in schools. I think we need to make it much harder for some people to have guns.
Widely acclaimed at the time of its publication, the life story of the most controversial, volatile, misunderstood provision of the Bill of Rights.
At a time of increasing gun violence in America, Waldmans book provoked a wide range of discussion. This book looks at history to provide some surprising, illuminating answers.
The Amendment was written to calm public fear that the new national government would crush the state militias made up of all (white) adult menwho were required to own a gun to serve. Waldman recounts the raucous public debate that has surrounded the amendment from its inception to the present. As the country spread to the Western frontier, violence spread too. But through it all, gun control was abundant. In the twentieth century, with Prohibition and gangsterism, the first federal control laws were passed. In all four separate times the Supreme Court ruled against a constitutional right to own a gun.
The present debate picked up in the 1970spart of a backlash to the liberal 1960s and a resurgence of libertarianism. A newly radicalized NRA entered the campaign to oppose gun control and elevate the status of an obscure constitutional provision. In 2008, in a case that reached the Court after a focused drive by conservative lawyers, the US Supreme Court ruled for the first time that the Constitution protects an individual right to gun ownership. Famous for his theory of originalism, Justice Antonin Scalia twisted it in this instance to base his argument on contemporary conditions.
In The Second Amendment: A Biography, Michael Waldman shows that our view of the amendment is set, at each stage, not by a pristine constitutional text, but by the push and pull, the rough and tumble of political advocacy and public agitation.
unweird
(2,539 posts)People control? Bah humbug. We control/regulate all manner of physical objects. Sanctifying firearms as above control or regulation is asinine and a danger to us all.
Progressive Jones
(6,011 posts)Rustyeye77
(2,736 posts)Their actions may lead him to the electric chair.
we can do it
(12,189 posts)senseandsensibility
(17,062 posts)out of their house recently.
Shanti Shanti Shanti
(12,047 posts)Demovictory9
(32,457 posts)BobTheSubgenius
(11,564 posts)Plus, it will give him someone else to rage on during all those spare hours and years he's going to have.
Win-win.